Leighton Moss

Snipe, Leighton Moss 

The snow which started just after midnight hadn't been forecast and led to a revision of the plans for the day. I suspect I'm going to be doing this a lot this week, or even this year. The alerts stopped South of Preston so I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed North.

The weather and scenery changed between Chorley and Leyland. The grey, snowy skies and landscapes gave way to a sunny day and green fields though the frozen puddles confirmed it was still cold.

We'd passed a lot of woodpigeons, gulls and corvids along the way as usual. I almost didn't see the rabbits at Carnforth Station. The pools at the coastal hides were sparsely populated by teal, wigeon, black-headed gulls and a few shelducks.

Grange-over-Sands 

The tide was lowish as we passed over the viaduct at Arnside and all but a couple of redshanks were downstream. A cloud rolled in and we had ten minutes of sleet then the sun came out again. The salt marshes were very quiet, just a few carrion crows and a single pink-footed goose and very few black-headed gulls about. It wasn't until Kent's Bank I saw the first little egrets of the year. A handful of curlews fed in the fields inland and the frozen salt marsh by the Leven was pretty deserted. A lot of wigeon fussed about in the creeks of the Leven and a few redshanks fed in the mud.

Barrow Park

The plan was to change at Ulverston for to go back to Leighton Moss but that train was cancelled so I carried on to Barrow. A buzzard sitting in a tree at Roose Station was unexpected, the mute swans and goldeneye on Cavendish Dock less so. I had the best part of an hour to wait for the next train so I wandered down to Barrow Park to stretch my legs. There were lots of woodpigeons, jackdaws and herring gulls about and a small mixed tit flock — great tits, blue tits, coal tits and a couple of goldfinches tagging along — rummaged its way through the shrubbery.

On the way back there were more wigeon on the inland side as we crossed the Leven, together with goosanders, teal and mallards. The pool a little further along, which had invaded the nearby fields, was busy with mallards and shovelers and the field drains up to Cark were busy with teal. The little egrets that hadn't been on the salt marsh were lurking in frozen flooded fields or sitting in trees.  The train disturbed a large flock of teal on the approach to the viaduct at Arnside.

Leighton Moss 

I got off at Silverdale and walked round to Leighton Moss. I didn't mind losing an hour's walking round here as I'd missed a heavy sleet shower. The river running down the middle of the road told a story.

The Hideout was busy, mostly with chaffinches, mallards and robins, as per. A couple of marsh tits and a coal tit dived through the crowds and secured sunflower seeds.

Teal

The pool at Lilian's Hide was mostly frozen with a crowd of ducks congregating in an unfrozen corner with a couple of cormorants, some mute swans and dabchicks and a lot of coot. The teal were the most vocal but the gadwalls the most numerous. There were also what looked like a couple of dozen snipe. It was hard to be sure of the number as they were doing some remarkable vanishing acts. When half a dozen snipe land in a patch of thin, dead grass the size of your bath mat immediately in front of your hide six feet away you'd sort of expect to see them all, I was lucky if I was seeing more than one. A marsh harrier sat in the reeds minding its own business on the far side.

Shovelers, pintails, teal and mallards

Marsh harrier

Gadwall and coots

Snipe 

Snipe 

Snipe

Snope

Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

At Lilian's Hide 

Cormorants 

The marsh tits at the feeding station had been very conspicuous but also very camera shy so I had one last go at getting a picture for the album.

Marsh tit and blue tit

The surprise of the day came on the journey back. The train had just passed by Hest Bank when I saw three white morph snow geese grazing in a corner of a field. There were no other geese about that might have acted as carriers for waifs and strays so I'm assuming they're escapees.

The train terminated at Preston, it's a remarkable thing when it actually finishes its journey to Manchester Airport. By a series of accidents I got home very roughly at the expected hour.

Leighton Moss